Union investigators from five different agency have formed a new task effect to try and catch criminals using cryptocurrencies and the Dark Web to carry out illegal activity . The unexampled Avengers - vogue crosswalk team includes agents from the Department of Homeland Security , Union prosecutors , the IRS ’ Criminal Investigation Unit , and the Drug Enforcement Administration . They ’re calling themselves the “ Darknet Marketplace and Digital Currency Crimes Task Force . ” They ’re restricting their activities to Arizona for now .
The task force ’s primary foreign mission is to “ cut off and rase criminal organizations that exploit the appearance of namelessness on the darknet or apply digital currency to help criminal activities . ” Investigators from the new project power say they ’ve been crossing paths since 2017 but decide to officially come in together now due in part to an increase in the use of the internet to facilitate the illegal sales event of drugs , firearms , and technology in late years .
“ Ever - evolving technology has allowed drug traffickers and other felonious actors to extend into the digital world and use the darknet to engage in their illegal activity , ” the project military force wrote in a blog post . natural law enforcement officials take in the Digital Currency Crimes mathematical group , like DEA Special Agent in Charge Cheri Oz , believe the increased collaboration and resource provided by the task force out will give them greater flexibleness to speedily target suspects .
Photo: Oliver Berg (AP)
newfangled , easily approachable advances in encryption technology and the mainstream acceptance of more difficult - to - trace cryptocurrencies , the feds argue , have left law enforcement at a disadvantage . Encryptionadvocates , on the other handwriting , have long argued these putz are crucial to protect users ’ privacy in an online globe .
“ Drug vendor who are hiding in the darknet will be aggressively direct and unmasked by this task force out , ” Oz enunciate in a statement .
For now , the project force come out to be concentre its efforts in the land of Arizona , though it ’s indecipherable whether it be after to expand its horizon to other areas . The five authority regard in the task military force did not directly answer to Gizmodo ’s request for comment
In 2021 , forensic crypto stiff ChainAnalysisestimatedcryptocurrency - related criminal offence hit a then - all - prison term senior high school , with illicit crypto address receiving $ 14 billion Charles Frederick Worth of crypto in a undivided year . Those fig were nearly double the $ 7.8 billion illegal speech reportedly encounter the year before . Much of the ostensibly upsurge in criminal transactions , ChainAnalsyis banknote , owe to the rapid mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies during that clock time .
black net transactions , which loosely refer to the hole-and-corner economy only approachable through certain onion plant - routing software program , have long been a hotbed for illegal activity . Though its anonymized nature piss it more hard to find out accurate figures on dark nett transactionssomeestimatessuggest anywhere between 37 % to 57 % of dark web purchases further criminal activity .
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